Final answer:
Given that a prescription requires 2.5 c.c. of medicine for every 50 pounds of body weight, a 125-pound patient will need to take 6.25 c.c of medicine. This can be found by setting up a proportion and solving for the unknown.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the amount of medicine that the patient will need to take, you can use proportional reasoning. We know from the prescription that 2.5 c.c. of medicine is required for every 50 pounds of body weight. Thus, for a patient who weighs 125 pounds, we can set up the proportion as follows: 2.5 c.c / 50 pounds = x c.c / 125 pounds. You can solve for x (which represents the c.c of medicine for the 125-pound patient) by cross-multiplying and then dividing: (2.5 c.c * 125 pounds) / 50 pounds = 6.25 c.c. So, the patient will need to take 6.25 c.c of medication.
Learn more about Proportional Reasoning